VENT - Advice Welcome
Lack of Professional Clothing Suffocating Professional Development - What to do? (
self.FTMOver30)
submitted 8 hours ago by
ImmediateDraft2477
TL;DR - After years of feeling good, I am suddenly stuck by
absolutely crippling dysphoria that's ruining my professional growth.
How do I force myself to shake hands and schmooze when it feels like the only clothing 'made' for me is basketball shorts?
I (35M) have been in transition for about ten years now. Aside from being shorter than average, I live a pretty comfortable life being perceived cis by the world around me. Most days the fact that I am trans isn't something I or anybody else seems to think about.
Over the last couple months a lot has changed. I took a new in-office job, joined the Board of an organization I've been pursuing for a while, and even got accepted into an awesome fintech leadership cohort that I'd applied for last year. After several years of being hybrid, I find myself not only out of the house more but in pretty high-stakes professional circles where I need to put my best foot forward.
I started shopping for dress shirts, pants, even a suit and... It's like my world came caving in on me.
I've struggled to find clothes the entirety of my transition because I'm high waisted and wide-hipped, but this is absolutely killing me. I have dropped an embarrassing amount of money already on clothes that 100% do not work. Shirts don't close at the bottom because my hips are too big, or the sleeves hang so long I look like a child playing dress up. I even paid to have an already-very-expensive suit tailored and I felt *worse* afterwards - ever single curve felt amplified to almost comedic effect.
I've shut down entirely. The past two weeks I haven't worn anything but sweats and sweatshirts, and I've been working remotely full time.
I backed out of two *critical* networking events last minute because I have no clothes appropriate for casual Friday let alone a formal cocktail event. My husband (30M cis) is trying to be supportive, but how do I articulate that *I do not have the type of body that menswear is meant to fit*? I look like a child, a slob, or a 90s era butch comedian no matter what I put on my fucking body. I feel like my family is suffering because, without fail, I'm angry every day when it comes time to get dressed.
I'm over the whole body positive bs and the 'clothes have no gender' talking points. I'm the CFO of a multinational company, and I should be able to sit at a table with funders and not look like a goddamn clown. At this point it feels like my choices are 1) continue to blow thousands of dollars on ill-fitting suits until I somehow stumble upon perfection, 2) blow thousands AND take an extended leave of absence to have body sculpting done and hope that fixes things, or 3) accept that I am going to be unhappy, uncomfortable, and ugly in ever social scenario I exist in.
Like what the fuck, right? I'm laughing at myself right now because it's just ridiculous. I'm a good looking dude in good shape with a good job and a great family and yesterday I was having a full-blown meltdown because my sleeves were too long. Like get a fucking grip, dude.
I'm just fed up.
I know there are cis dudes out there who have bodies similar to mine and they aren't existing in sweats and hoodies. There *has* to be a solution, but I'd rather drag my ass down a mile of sandpaper than invest any more fucking brainpower into this. All I want is to open my closet door in the morning and see options rather than obligations.